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Autumn Statement: the salami-slicing continues
Kristian Niemietz
7 December 2012
3 comments

  Right from the start, the guiding question behind the coalition’s fiscal strategy has been ‘Which consolidation measures are least likely to get us into trouble?’ rather...
The Chancellor is still gambling on strong medium-term growth
Richard Wellings
5 December 2012
2 comments

At the time of the last Autumn statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was predicting growth of 0.7 per cent in 2012, followed by 2.1 per cent in 2013, 2.7 per cent in 2014 and a...
The problem is not that companies pay too little tax, but that they pay too much
Philip Booth
3 December 2012
2 comments

Those attacking companies not paying corporation tax have opened up a new line of argument. Specifically, members of the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee have argued that because...
The impact of fuel duty on work incentives
Richard Wellings
19 November 2012
26 comments

According to a review commissioned by the Department of Social Security, ‘the costs of travelling to work will ... be a factor in some people’s decisions about whether to look for or...
Stimulus policies are no substitute for supply-side reforms
Vuk Vukovic
14 November 2012
comments

A lot of pro fiscal stimulus arguments in the USA and the UK come from the classical zero lower bound (ZLB) assumption, in which conventional monetary policy is said to be ineffective...
Tax havens are essential and do us all a favour
Philip Booth
12 November 2012
4 comments

Who among Sunday Telegraph readers has not tried to avoid paying tax? I should imagine that most married readers keep their assets in the name of the spouse with the lowest tax rate. And I...
Less affordable alcohol will push drinkers towards the black market
Christopher Snowdon
22 October 2012
comments

Are the British developing a taste for smuggled booze and moonshine? There was a five-fold increase in the number of seizures of counterfeit alcohol by Trading Standards between 2008/09 and 2010/11...
The Bank of England needs a humble governor
Philip Booth
17 October 2012
comments

  At a meeting in the House of Commons yesterday, I was asked to describe the characteristics which should be possessed by the next Governor of the Bank of England. These were my thoughts...
Clegg's policy to take money from pensions to pay for mortgages is madness
Philip Booth
26 September 2012
comments

It is difficult to think of a policy that is as ill-conceived on so many levels as the coalition's announcement on Sunday to encourage parents to guarantee their children's mortgages....
Has The Guardian taken over The Times?
Philip Booth
21 September 2012
26 comments

I was surprised to see The Times run a front page, a three page feature and a leader on tax avoidance yesterday. The arguments used by The Times, and the specific examples highlighted were...
The case for a land-value tax
Duncan Stoddard
4 September 2012
76 comments

  ‘Buy land, they're not making it anymore.’ - Mark Twain The UK economy is beset by three compounding problems: no growth, a high deficit and a constricting...
There's no case for a wealth tax
Philip Booth
31 August 2012
2 comments

Once again, we hear calls for a wealth tax not just from Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes, but also from Tim Montgomerie. These calls cannot go unchallenged. A wealth tax is a pernicious tax because...
An argument for cutting taxes on the rich
Prerna Aswani
29 August 2012
comments

Under the Reagan Presidency (1980-1988), income tax was cut across the board and the top rate of income tax reduced from 70% to 28%. The dramatic nature of the change in tax policy makes this a...
Cut more, regulate less
Richard Wellings
22 August 2012
4 comments

Relying on growth was always going to be a risky strategy. Yet a healthy recovery, with robust GDP increases of 2%-plus, formed the core of the government’s deficit reduction plan. In this...
Stagnation Britain: Osborne has played his hand extremely badly
Philip Booth
26 July 2012
2 comments

The statisticians will be arguing about the last quarter’s growth figures for years. Was it really a 0.7 per cent fall in national income, a 0.9 per cent fall or a 0.5 per cent fall? If it...
Sweden and Germany pave the way for Europe
Vuk Vukovic
23 July 2012
2 comments

Europe is once again on the edge of the cliff. Spain is out of money to finance itself and its banks; Greece, even though the pro-bailout coalition was formed, remains Europe’s...
Should the Church evade the issue of tax avoidance?
Philip Booth
10 July 2012
7 comments

It is perhaps surprising that senior people in the Catholic Church have been relatively quiet in the recent debate about tax avoidance. But, keeping quiet is probably a good strategy. After all,...
The Orange Book and the battle to 'reclaim' liberalism
Tom Papworth
25 June 2012
2 comments

The Orange Book's authors made the book what it is. Had it not been for David Laws MP and Paul Marshall, it might have been nothing more than an obscure collection of policy articles...
Jimmy Carr and tax
Len Shackleton
21 June 2012
5 comments

I admit that I’ve never been a fan of Jimmy Carr and am surprised to learn just how much he has apparently been earning for his rather predictable anti-establishment comedy. But if...
A British debt brake
Kwasi Kwarteng
31 May 2012
4 comments

Britain currently has two emergency fiscal rules. There is a commitment, roughly speaking, to eliminate the structural deficit and to start shrinking net debt by 2015-6. These short term measures...

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